Google Extends Voice AI Support for 15 More African Languages

Google has announced that it has extended AI voice capabilities to over a dozen new African languages across a range of Google services.

Google — which already supports typing with a custom keyboard in Gboard for approximately 200 African languages, and machine translations for over 60 African languages in Google Translate — now supports voice search, talk-to-type on Gboard, and dictation on Google Translate for 15 regional languages.

The development means that the company has more than doubled the number of African languages that enable speech-to-text in Google Translate and has doubled existing voice input support for Gboard and voice search in the region.

Daan van Esch, Technical Program Manager at Google, said that the update “will enable around 300 million more Africans to use their voice to interact with the web.”

Speaking recently to Slator about the challenges and opportunities of the language services market in Africa, Christian Elongue, Managing Director of Kabod Group said, “there is limited training data that many African languages are facing, [and there are multiple initiatives] contributing to creating data sets for various low-resource African languages.”

Elongue described how many consumers turn to free or automatic translation, such as Google Translate, in a region where “many people consume content in Africa using their mobile phones. It’s very important that when designing solutions for the African market to have that in mind,” he added.

The announcement coincides with the news that Google is to invest USD 5.8 million to support AI skilling and education across Sub-Saharan Africa, which will be used to equip workers and students with foundational AI and cybersecurity skills.